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I want to be healthy and look good. I want to have a strong healthy body.
I also do it because I like to eat and drink and I would not "look this good" if I didn't exercise as much as I do..lol
I am a runner. Before the pandemic I went to the gym and ran on the treadmill and sometimes I used the elliptical. Once the gyms started to close I decided to cancel the gym membership and I began to run exclusively outside. I run between 4 and 8 miles. I try to run 8 miles 1 day a week and between 5 and 6 2 or 3 days a week. If I don't run I walk. I really want to start lifting weight. Weight lifting does wonders for your body.
Last edited by glass_of_merlot; 01-20-2021 at 09:42 PM..
I am an intense person. Cardio has a calming effect on me and lowers my anxiety levels. My family wants to crucify me on days when I don't exercise (LOL some days they kick me out of house on my bike).
I can get sedentary and become a couch potato and put some extra weight on. Then I feel like crap and I start having health issues. This results in me out the door, and back I go in the exercise routine again. I have lost 10 lbs and Im feeling good again. And, this is the only reason I exercise, to feel better. Feeling like crap motivates me.
So, I noticed the usual many many people out exercising and wondered why they exercise. I figured I ask on here.
I wondered how many people are motivated to exercise ( similar to me ) because they start to feel like crap and get sick? And, they know exercise makes them feel better.
So, do you exercise for the same reasons I do?
So, do you exericse because you like it?
What are your reasons?
I enjoy it.
I enjoy feeling good.
And when I have too much energy, I just have to do something, whether it is dancing, running with our dog, Mr Yap, or punching my wife's Kung Fu training doll.
It was in the early 1600s I think when William Harvey discovered that all complex animals have a heart and a circulation that drives blood containing nutrients to every part of the body. But he did not find mini-hearts out in the peripheral tissues to pump the lymph and venous blood (containing waste products) back into the circulation to be detoxicated by the liver and/or excreted via faeces and urine.
The only way that venous blood or lymph gets back to the circulation is by the squeezing action of contracting muscles. Our current physiology has developed over millions of years, and back in the days when, in order to eat, we had to either run down, swim or dig for a feed. We automatically used our muscles. It required a little more than just opening a fridge door.
If you wish to prevent the toxins from a venomous bite reaching your circulation, immobilize the muscles of the affected limb.
If you prefer the waste products of your metabolism to stay longer in your body and slow down your metabolism, just sit on your backside all day.
I exercise to keep my body's waste products moving on.
My dad was an athlete and even today he has lots of energy. Excessive I would say. He's 81. I used to run with him (and my brother) early in the morning, we started very young, 7-8 years old. Almost daily. Then he enrolled us in swimming lessons, then tennis, then gymnastics, ping-pong, dancing etc etc. It was always something. In high school and after that I started to lift weights and do Callanetics, would work out for an hour a day, every single day. We had a small gym at home.
My boyfriend/later husband is the same. Very into exercise. Daily. He was the one who introduced me to lifting weights. They - dad and DH - both encouraged me to exercise as often as I could. So I did.
It's very difficult not to exercise. I had shorter or longer periods of time when I could not. For health reasons, pain, hospital, time, etc. It was not good. First of all for my mind. For the body too. Hormones, metabolism, ligaments, mobility etc.
I didn't read all the answers on this topic but I agree with all the comments that I read. It's the same for me: for vanity, for mental health, for the after working out endorphins, for longevity and health, for being strong etc. So many reasons.
The most important reason for me is for mood. It makes me feel happy, it's better than an antidepressant, for sure. Plus it helps me keep a very healthy and clean diet. When I eat healthy it motivates me to exercise too. And the other way around. When I exercise, I just want to eat healthy.
I started at PF after I retired as I did NOT want to let myself go to pot as my job had kept me active. I didn't want to outgrow my clothes and develop a pot belly and look bad. I go to PF three times a week and do mostly machines to try to gain upper body strength and I do ab exercises to keep the belly in check. I am not that advanced to do free weights . I think I look better than when I was working and I feel better. I also shower down there. I will admit that I don't enjoy the trip to the gym but I feel good about myself when I am walking out the door and on my way home.
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